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Happy Friday, the 13th! A cherry pie fashioned after the hockey goalie mask worn by none other than Jason Voorhees seemed appropriate for today, so I went for it!! (I love that we have a Friday, the 13th in October this year. Extra spook factor because of Halloween. We should have scary cherry pie all month long.)

I was a little apprehensive starting out on this one, I have to say. Wasn't sure how my mom's oil crust recipe would hold up with the cherries. But, it did great!! There was a bit of a cherry spill, but I think it adds to the look.

Start by creating a pattern. I had freezer paper on hand, which was pretty helpful because it has a slick side as well as a paper side. You can draw your pattern on the paper side, and use the slick side to place against the dough, keeping the pattern from complete oil ruination.

Once you're happy with your terrifying design, cut out the eyes and several of the dots. This will help guide you when you start cutting out the design on the crust. (They are built in vents for your pie.)

Using my mom's oil crust recipe, which you can find here, roll out half the dough into the bottom crust, between two sheets of wax paper. (Follow my step-by-step instructions to learn how to roll out the dough. There's a trick to it!)

Then roll out the dough that you're going to transform into Jason's horrifying hockey mask, between two sheets of wax paper.

Peel off the top layer of wax paper, and place your hideous pattern on the rolled out dough.

I used a water bottle cap to cut out the eyes.

It was a slightly smaller than I wanted, so I just went back over it with a paring knife to widen the holes. And then took this picture because it looks really scary.

To cut out the tiny holes, I used a straw which I surreptitiously swiped from 7-Eleven. The Slurpee straw has the right circumference for Jason's vent holes, I mean my scary cherry pie vent holes. BTW, I am in no way promoting theft from 7-Eleven. I'm just saying I needed that straw. And now I have it. And it worked stupendously as a pie dough cutting tool. You may come up with your own methods.

I didn't cut out all the holes in the patterns paper because it just was too tedious. I decided that a better way to approach the remaining cut-outs was to just eye the design, and in one deft move, peel the edge of the pattern off as you keep your eye on the hole you want to cut, then just nail it with the straw. It worked beautifully. And I wasn't going for perfection. Jason wasn't perfect either, as you may recall.

The final touch was adding some rolled up dough to accentuate the nose on the mask, and the red arrowhead triangle between the eyes and the red slashes under the eyes. I have to say. It did look pretty perfect at this point, and somewhat symmetrical, for having done this entirely freehand. I for sure was smiling at this point in the scary cherry pie making.

Lay the wax paper over the crust to keep it from air exposure while you prep the filling.

Next up, the filling. I followed the cherry pie recipe on the Oregon Fruit website, since I'd already purchased the canned red tart cherries. You need two 14.5-oz. cans.

You drain the juice from one can and add it to a pot with 1/2 cup sugar and 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch, which you then bring to a boil. (Discard the juice from the other can.) After a few minutes, the sauce begins to thicken. I boiled it for a total of maybe five minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.

(You don't have to use a wooden spoon, I just happen to prefer them. The sound of the wooden spoon is pleasing to me, and it's less noisy than metal against metal.)

Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the cherries from both cans. I added about 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, because I like vanilla. (The recipe called for almond extract, but I didn't have any.)

Take your top crust (which is between two pieces of wax paper), and carefully flip it over. Peel back the top layer of wax paper. Then carefully center it over the pie and place it. Gingerly peel back the wax paper, revealing your almost finished pie!

Voila! The butter dots will melt, but for now they look a little like pupils. Bonus! Seal the pie by crimping the top crust to the bottom crust, using your fingers. I usually do a scalloped edge on my pies, but I left this one plain because Jason doesn't seemed like a scalloped kinda guy.

Bake at 400 degree Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes. You may want to keep a cookie sheet under your pie to catch the drippings.